Tag Archives: cathedral

As our circadian rhythms and livers continue to adjust to Germany, it’s probably about time to introduce our loyal readers to our project. Over the next three weeks, we’re meeting with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and tier-1 suppliers to help DHL Supply Chain’s Global Automotive Sector determine the buying behaviors of both prospective and current customers. Since we were assigned this project back in late February, we’ve met with DHL clients stateside to understand the industry and get a feel for DHL’s many, many different services within the automotive supply chain. And now that we’re on DHL’s home turf of Germany, we’re traveling all over the country to develop findings and a solution that can not only be applied to Europe, but can also be extended to DHL’s global market.

On Monday, we met with one of DHL’s freight forwarding customers, a tier-1 safety equipment manufacturer located in our home base of Koblenz. Our main point of contact, Helge, gave us a thorough background of their business and how the approach logistics procurement. Tuesday’s agenda took us to Cologne, where we met with Markus of DHL’s Lead Logistics Provider team, which manages the entire supply chain for Ford Europe. DHL’s team for this project works just feet away from where Ford produces all of its Fiesta cars for the European market. While on-site, we got a personalized tour of the entire production complex, from where the body frame is created to where the finished car is rolled off the line for final quality testing. For security reasons, we weren’t able to take pictures throughout the tour, so you’ll have to take our word for it about how insanely awesome, complex, and impressive the entire process is when orchestrated in real-time. However, we did get a picture of us in our snazzy vests.

After spending the day with Markus and his team, we found our way over to the Koln Dom (the Cologne Cathedral), Germany’s #1 tourist destination. While walking through a tunnel (which smelled like the exact opposite of what cologne should smell like) on the way over, I Wikipedia’ed as much as I could about the church and impressed my teammates with off-the-cuff knowledge about its prolific history (Don’t tell them I did this… I want them to think I’m smart). For instance, did you know that the Cologne Cathedral was the world’s tallest building from 1880-1884? Boom. You’ve been knowledge’d.

For dinner, we headed over to Fruh to try out one of Cologne’s famous dishes. “Heaven & Hell”, as it is loosely translated, is an interesting combo of blood pudding served over apples and mashed potatoes. Tim seemed to be halfheartedly enjoying the experience, until his first burp which, by the looks of it, was a negative life-altering experience. Also, a quick note on Cologne’s beer policy: if you order a beer at a restaurant, they’ll keep bringing you new ones until you politely refuse. Now that’s what I call customer service.

Despite the mixed reviews about blood pudding, Cologne’s cuisine TOTALLY redeemed itself with its nougat pretzels, a combo of white and dark chocolate, nougat, and almonds resulting in a diabetic shock and cavity inducing pastry of sheer deliciousness. Needless to say, we slept like kings.